I am thrilled once again to be a stopover on a blog tour. This week I have as my guest the stupendous Ruth McNally Barshaw, artist and author, who has her first book just hitting the shelves this month: Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen Will Travel.
I got to know Ruth somewhat over the years as we connected here and there over shop talk on line, on this listserv and that one, before meeting her in the flesh in the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York. This year’s conference was especially nice--I got to spend some real time getting to know Ruth up close and personal, and I especially loved watching her whip out that sketchbook in different locales all weekend long. I even looked over her shoulder.
In fact, I blogged about her fervent record keeping not long after I got back from New York. She was sketching at Bar Nine, and at the Art Showcase and in the bar (oops! Did I admit that we were in the hotel bar?) and between guest speakers, and also every other time I saw her. Make sure to take a look at her sketchbook from this past February in NY. Rumor has it she was even at work in the ladies room, but far be it from me to ever spread any silly gossip like that...
So if you happen to catch Ruth in New York next year or at another venue, keep an eye out--you may end up in her journal! Speaking of that journal, it’s posting online a couple of years ago is what led to her remarkable success story. As far as I am concerned, being true to who you are and what you enjoy doing will never fail you as an artist. Ruth is a classic living example of that mantra.
Nosey head that I am, I had a few questions I was wondering about...
Ellie McDoodle goes on some camping trip! So tell us--how much camping you either do now, did as a kid or were subjected to over the years against your will...
Hahahhaha I've done my share of camping in the mud, camping while 8 months pregnant or with new babies, camping during horrible thunderstorms that I was sure would take down the tree next to me.
We camped a lot when I was a kid. I wanted to relive those glory days (my dad, a National Guardsman and camping afficionado, was a wonderful man) so I camped a lot when I first got married. Now I only camp about once or twice a year, family reunions. Though I want to take all of my kids out West, camping. My favorite thing in the world is to do road trips, stopping at small grocery stores for picnic lunches, and eating in parks or at roadsides. Camping lends itself well to that, although I could be persuaded to sleep in a real bed.
How does your family react to what you do? And are they represented in any way in your first book or making their guest appearances in the next?
They love it. They weren't entirely supportive at the beginning (oh, geez, yet another of Mom's weird ideas...) but they are, now. Ellie is mostly me but she's also each of my kids. My two older daughters are rolled into one character, Risa. My son is Josh, Ellie's brother. My grandson is Ben-Ben (although he's a bit of my second daughter, too). Each of them has a bigger role in the second book, and we also meet new friends for Ellie.
My kids rolled their eyes at Risa's name; my oldest is Lisa. But I knew a Risa in high school! It's a legitimate name! My son's name is Joey. I suppose I could have gotten more creative on those two names.
Don't tell anyone, but Deanna in the book is based on a girl named Deanna from my childhood. She scared
the bejeebers out of me. I had nightmares about her, growing up.
Describe your typical work day and your work environment. What gets your juices flowing?
It varies. My studio needs a good makeover. I've scheduled one for this summer. I don't work as often in there as I used to because it doesn't have the right energy in it. My computer's in there, but I draw and write in other places where it's more comfortable.
I was actively avoiding drawing in the studio until you asked these questions and I had to confront the situation. Thank you -- now I am moving on and working on a solution. Eventually I will be proud of my studio again.
My coolest achievement as far as workspace is my big metal board with my manuscript on it. I use magnets and clips to hold it all in place, and the board is portable. I take it to wherever my family is (or sometimes wherever they are NOT). It works very well on the couch or at thedining room table or outside under a tree.
A typical day... I wake up late (because I stayed up too late the night before. Or, actually, too late into the
wee hours of the morning...). Tackle part of the email mountain, research, and play spider solitaire while waiting for websites to open. Lunch at my desk. Work til the kids get home from school. Sometimes go to meetings, kid events, or writer group gatherings after school, in the evening or, like today, all day (field trip today). Sometimes I'm working like crazy on a deadline and I only half listen to whomever is talking at my studio door.
They're on to me and they resent that. My kids feel I don't spend enough time on them. They worry that I might love the book more than I love them. You and I both know that's preposterous, but this balancing act isn't easy.
If you could rewind the clock, is there something you would have done differently before this point or wished you had done?
A million things. I did almost everything wrong.
I wish I had followed up on Richard Peck's suggestion 16 years ago when he gave me his editor's contact info and suggested I get in touch with her, to get published. But I wasn't ready for it.
I also wish I hadn't talked myself out of publishing, 20 years ago. I thought Shel Silverstein, Tomie dePaola
and Dr. Seuss had done everything I would want to do with books, and that there was no room for my voice.Sigh.
I wish I had more self confidence earlier on, I wish I hadn't let myself get beaten down with angst.I wish I'd gotten my degree at Michigan State instead of attending for 8 years and having nothing to show. I wish I'd been more honest, more wise, more self-aware, less anxious. I wish I'd kept playing tennis.
But maybe all that is what made me the sagging, bagging bundle of insecurities I am today, and maybe
it improves my writing. Please don't tell me it doesn't.
What comes first in Ellie--the sketches or the text? Or are they evolving at the same time?
At the same time. I just draw and write from start to finish. Usually a finished page pops into my head as I start it. Sometimes I have to redraw it a couple times to get the right angle, or to fit everything in. I'm doing something different for Book 2: I am drawing in pencil, because the deadline is very tight and I have to constantly go back and forth among pages, adding things, switching things, putting in different words.
It's easier to do that with pencil than pen. With Book 1, I was carefree and just drew from page 1 to page 128 without worries. At revisions time I did pencils, switching things around and modifying pages. With Book 2 I am building the revisions stage into the first draft stage because of the looming deadlines.
Can you tell us about some other characters you are cooking up for future projects?
I'm so excited about the future projects! I pitched an idea to my agent at a recent conference (just sitting around chatting, what do you do? Talk business, of course) and she liked it a lot. It needs a little tweaking; I have all the ideas in my head and just need to commit them to paper, hoping to do that in the next couple weeks.
The character is a cheeky, creative problem-solving girl, age 6, who comes up with inventive solutions for
a problem with the school play. She's the type who doesn't look before she leaps, and so she leads the
poor teacher through a bit of angst before things get put right in the third act. I'm especially excited about this because this story went through two incarnations before becoming what it is now. I didn't submit it anywhere, but now with a all the added humor I think it's going to be a fun book to work on. My first job is to get the look of the character just right.
A friend of mine wrote what can easily be turned into a graphic novel for younger kids, with two hilarious and very well-developed animal characters.
I thought I'd lost my chance to work on that project, because another illustrator was being considered for it as a different sort of book. But now it looks like I might have a shot at it, and I'm very excited about that. The writing is so crisp. I know kids will adore this book. If I get to illustrate it, I will feel lucky. There's a bit left to do with Ellie first, though. So we'll see what happens.
There are hints of other projects on the horizon. One is a boy character that is begging for a story. He'll have to be patient and wait his turn, though. :)
Make sure to check out the other stops on Ruth's Blog Tour:
Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Dotti Enderle
Karen Lee
Kim Norman
Alan Gratz
Greg. R. Fishbone
What a wonderful idea, to interview around the blogs! I am really enjoying reading about Ruth, and it is evident through her replies that she is a lovely person, and deserving of every success.
Posted by: June | May 14, 2007 at 05:21 AM